Army Aviation Turns 30 A Reality Check

The Cheetah fatal accident on December 1, 2016, at Sukna Military Station and the subsequent grounding of the entire fleet for mandatory checks by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has further eroded the confidence regarding the safety of the current fleet, which is the lifeline of troops deployed on the Siachen Glacier.

- LT General B.S. Parwar

ON NOVEMBER 1, 2016, the Army Aviation Corps completed 30 years of its existence since its formation in 1986. However, at the end of these 30 years it continues to fly the outdated and vintage fleet of Cheetah/Chetak helicopters, is faced with a muddled and confused government policy on ownership of attack helicopters, and has seen no progress on the acquisition plans for the tactical battle support helicopters (10- to12- tonne class) to enhance tactical lift capability and for special operations. on the plus side it has inducted the largest number of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)-built advanced light helicopters (ALH/Dhruv) — approximately 70 Dhruvs are operational with the Army Aviation and two units of the armed version of the Dhruv called the Rudra are presently under various stages of raising.

However, the critical issue of the Cheetah/Chetak helicopters replacement is still far cry, not with standing the hype of the government-to-government deal with Russia with regards to the Ka-226T helicopter, which at best would be available in a time frame of three to four years, provided everything proceeds as planned. The non-availability of this crucial platform in adequate numbers in the next three to four years is going to seriously impact on the army’s high altitude operations and has very serious consequences for national security. The Cheetah fatal accident on December 1, 2016, at Sukna military Station while coming in to land and the subsequent grounding of the entire fleet for mandatory checks by HAL has further eroded the confidence regarding the safety of the current fleet — this affect is already being felt as the Cheetah helicopters are the lifeline of troops deployed on the Siachen Glacier.

Cheetah/Chetak Replacement